Reggo My Eggo

Chapter 32

The first three days of Yule break went by in a flash. Every day had consisted of the marauders sending letters back and forth, making sure that Peter was caught up in what was going on in the castle. There were no other Gryffindors in their year staying for the holidays so it was all quite quiet. 

The three boys who were left at the castle decided on setting up as many of the pranks as they could within the first few days so that they wouldn't have to worry about them later on. The banner which still said the "Murderers" was hung in the great hall but camouflaged for the time being. They haven't got the chance to set up the Hufflepuffs prank nor have they done the Gryffindors prank but the other two houses were set for the upcoming prank week.

It was Wednesday the 22nd and Christmas wasn't until the upcoming Saturday. The Crouch family will be arriving at the Black manor on Christmas eve for the annual feast. Poor Barty would have to survive the night without Regulus once again after Regulus had forced him to go home for Christmas just so he didn't have to spend the night alone.

James, Sirius and Remus were ready to head back to the Black manor for what would be the last time. All they had to do for the time being was pray that professor McGonagall was now in her office at the moment as getting caught would only put a damper on their plans. 

The three boys had just finished sending off a letter to Peter to give him the final details on their plan before they set out and were now approaching their head of house's office, invisibility clack in hand. The plan from here was to use to invisibility cloak to get into the office and hoped that if they were to get caught that their professor would just assume that the door hadn't been closed correctly. 

The three got under the invisibility cloak with Remus in the front, listening closely to any movement from inside the office. Once Remus had decided that they had waited long enough, he took out his wand and froze the painting which automatically made the door swing open as there was no longer anything guarding the door. 

Remus stepped back from the door, nearly making James trip and fall on top of Sirius. There was still no sound from inside the office so Remus advanced and took a large step into the room. 

No one was there. Professor McGonagall had most likely gone out shopping because she had free time to run her own errands. 

Without wasting any time, the group marched over to the fireplace. Remus grabbed a handful of floo powder from a small cauldron that sat on top of the fireplace. 

"We might as well floo with the invisibility cloak over us," Remus reasoned. In the process of flooing or throughout the process of their landing chances are the invisibility cloak would fly off of them or fly up and reveal at least their legs but it may still make a difference. 

After the two boys agreed, the three of them stepped into the fireplace together and with a count of three, Remus threw down the floo powder and in a very clear voice spoke; "Black Manor". 

After being pulled through the floo system, they landed back in the grimy and poorly lit house that they were in not so long ago. The second that they regained control, they lunged out of the way of the fireplace, making themselves trip over the cloak and each other. 

The trio stood up and brushed themselves off, James made sure to readjust his mom-bag that he insisted on bringing with them, the bag was a book bag that sat on his shoulder but Sirius got into the habit of calling it his mom-bag as he was the mom-friend and often carried snacks as well as lose bandages stuffed in the bottom of his bag just in case. 

After James' bag was set, they ran straight up the staircase, without a thought. Shurley, they were making quite a bit of noise but they had to get out of sight as quickly as possible. 

Once up the long staircase, they turned right, heading in the direction of Regulus' room. Since the last time they were in the manor, which was the gala, they had the way to Regulus' room as well as a few other places mostly on the top floor, memorized.

They soon stopped running as they no longer had to worry about being seen. They could hear yelling and footsteps from the downstairs main entrance but there was no indication of someone nearby. 

James stuffed the invisibility cloak inside his large bag while the others started to catch their breath. 

The three boys didn't want to bother speaking and get caught so instead they used unclear hand gestures to try to communicate which only made more confusion. 

Remus pointed down the hall, indicating for them to keep moving in the direction of their destination. 

Remus, James and Sirius stood outside of Regulus' room being as quiet as possible. They could hear footsteps coming up the stairs and no doubt they'd soon head to Regulus' room to ask him if he had any knowledge on the ruckus that the three Gryffindors had created. 

"We should go in and get Regs before my parents kill us," said Sirius. Remus nodded his head in agreement. James looked at his two friends before reaching to the doorknob and slowly opening the door. All doors in the manor were loud and squeaky which made it hard to sneak around. 

James opened the door to reveal Regulus sitting in his window nook, sketchbook in hand. 

"What the hell-" Regulus was immediately shushed before he could make too much noise. 

"Shut up, we're being hunted down as we speak," Sirius whisper-shouted. 

"You shut up. Why are you here, I thought you would have learned after the gala," Regulus asked in a hushed voice. 

"We came to take you back," Sirius said, giving Regulus a look as if it were obvious. 

"You act like I was kidnapped," Regulus had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. His brother could never not put his own life in danger.

"Well we're here now and we're not leaving without you mostly because it took a lot of work and running to get here," James interrupted, reminding the other that they weren't alone. 

"What, did you run all the way here?" Regulus said with an amused expression. 

Regulus placed his sketchbook next to him and sat up. 

"Well no, but we did run all the way up the very long staircase which is just as bad," James said defensively. 

"Sounds like you're just out of shape," Regulus rolled his eyes and finally stood up from where he had just managed to get comfortable. 

"Rude, when was the last time you ran?"  James questioned. He knew Regulus hated running, he made that much very clear. 

'When I confessed my love to you'  

" I don't run, that much is obvious, I have better things to do than running," Regulus scoffed. 

"You two can bicker about your lack of athletic skills later, we've already stayed longer than needed," Remus interrupted. It was true, the plan was to grab Regulus and immediately leave, not wanting to repeat last time. 

"Why would I go with you three?" Regulus questioned. 

"Because you don't want to spend another Christmas alone?" Sirius offered. Now wasn't the time to deal with Regulus' games, he was surprised that they hadn't already been interrupted by their parents, although the house was not silent so maybe they had gone back downstairs. 

"Fine, but only because it's day three of the holidays and I've already run out of things to do," Regulus went over to his dresser and grabbed his suitcase which was still packed from when he had arrived back home. He quickly used his wand to cast a quick shrinking charm on it before placing his luggage in his pocket. 

"We going or not?" Regulus asked, heading straight for the door. 

"That was much easier than I thought it would be," Sirius mumbled to himself.